Not perfect, but still good.
I picked this set up to practice drumming. I’ve never owned a set of real drums, due to parental objections when I was a kid, and I live in an apartment now, so if you’re looking at this, you’re probably in a similar boat. Either that or you want an easily transportable unit to take on gigs.
In any case, with a few minor issues, I’ve been pretty satisfied with this set.
Build quality on the pads is excellent. I haven’t had any problems with the pads missing hits. The frame isn’t as sturdy as I’d like it to be, and by default, I was experiencing minor crosstalk between pads during drumming. There are plenty of settings in the drum module to remedy this, however.
The module comes with 50 preset drum-kits, which you can edit freely, or define your own from scratch. A number of the kits seem mostly useless as included, but they work well for trying out different sounds and deciding what you want. A few of the included kits sound very good as-is, notably the Rock kit, as well it should, being that a rock kit is what this unit is based on.
Action on the pads is pretty good, with good rebound. The pads (snare, toms, hihat) are only about 8” across though, so it helps to be accurate. I would have preferred a 10” for the snare, at least. The pads are quiet enough, sounding similar to a standard practice pad when hit (perhaps slightly higher pitched). Both cymbals feature three independent strike zones and a choke, which is very nice, and very little rebound, which is appropriate.
The kick pad is just wide enough to comfortably accommodate a double-bass pedal.
I take personal issue with the hi-hat pad. Specifically, the rebound. It’s built just like the tom pads, and sticks will bounce off it accordingly. It just feels weird. I plan to pick up another cymbal pad to replace it.
Wish me luck on that, though, and I’ll wish it on you. None of my local retailers carry Yamaha pads. Roland pads ~should~ be compatible, but I’ve personally experienced troubles with them, going through two CY-8 cymbals before giving up.
If you feel that you might want to expand in the future – add cymbals, get an accurate hi-hat replacement, and maybe a snare that looks and feels a little more like a snare – I’d recommend you just bite the bullet and go for the slightly more expensive Special model. You’ll wind up saving money, and an incredible amount of time, in the long run.
As a little bonus, I figured out that you can plug these directly into a set of Guitar Hero drums, and with a little work reassigning the MIDI functions on the kit’s module, you’ve got yourself a great play-along practice tool.
Overall, this is a great kit that I’d recommend to anyone, but at the same time, I’d probably recommend checking out similar Roland kits, due to the wider local availability of expansion items.
Reviewed by Matt on 10/15/2009 who plays Rock, Metal, Blues.
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